Mini reviews of old movies, mostly VHS tapes purchased by Eli Schuster in Goodwill, Value Village and Salvation Army stores across Toronto. Think of this site as a follow-up to http://www.minireviewsminibooks.blogspot.com/

Blurb From the VHS
Jacket: “Based on Tom Clancy’s bestseller, directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard) and starring Sean Connery and
Alec Baldwin, The Hunt for Red October
seethes with high-tech excitement and sweats with the tension of men who hold
Doomsday in their hands.”

What Did I Learn?:Russians don’t even take their dumps
without a plan.

Really?: 1) So
wait... I’m guessing Ramius (Connery) planned this defection months in advance,
and his plan for eliminating the Political Officer was to break his neck and
then claim he slipped on some spilled tea? 2) I realize Ramius sent that letter
to the KGB in order to prevent his crew from changing their minds, but gee...
alerting the entire Soviet Navy seems incredibly stupid. Couldn’t he have
arranged for it to be delivered at a later date, or something? 3) Was it really
necessary to include those electronic beeps every time the movie switches
scenes with a green-text subtitled dateline? 4) Ok, so the cook’s assistant is
a KGB/GRU agent... how does he know there’s a conspiracy on the sub, and how
did he get his orders to sabotage it?

Rating: I’m not a
big Tom Clancy fan, but The Hunt for Red
October isn’t a bad film, thanks to some nice pacing and direction provided
by McTiernan. Connery, Baldwin, and Glenn work well together, and the movie
offers a number of memorable moments (my favourite would be the Russian and
American officers co-piloting Red October to ward off a Soviet sub attack); my
only complaints (aside from those already mentioned in the “Really?” section)
would be that it takes a LONG time for things to get cooking, and there are a
few too many scenes of Jack Ryan getting escorted from ship-to-ship-to-ship.
7/10 stars.